Whether it stays that way over the next four-plus months is anyone's guess, but it's made for some early season jockeying in the divisional standings.
"I think when the divisions were made originally," says Caps defenseman Karl Alzner, "everybody looked at them and we knew this one could be a pretty good one. If teams could figure their stuff out, then it would be a hard division to win and make the playoffs. And we're seeing that now. I fully expect everyone to be in the hunt the whole way and it's probably going to come down to injuries and that sort of thing."
Before the New Jersey Devils went into a recent tailspin, there were five Metro teams among the top eight clubs in the NHL.
"Whether our division is going to stay on top of the league like that the whole year, that's less likely," says Niskanen. "But I feel like it has been more competitive this year. There has been some movement, as far as where teams are going to finish this year in the Metro. Some teams are going the wrong way and some teams are coming up. We're a quarter of the way through, so there is a long way to go. But it's going to be a challenge for us this year. We're going to have to work for everything. And at the end of the day, maybe that's not a bad thing, for preparing us [for the playoffs]."
